Scott's 50-Gallon In-Wall Build

[nmbeg]

2 and a 1/2 months without an update?

[spleify]

Yeah what the heck is going on........

[chrismunn]

Originally posted by scbauer
Thanks, we'll see tomorrow. I did disassemble the pump before I installed it and everything seemed to work fine. I wonder if the input is restricted somehow... I don't think so.

its a little past tomorrow!

[scbauer]

Okay, time for a small update. There are living things in the tank. I bought some live rock, a handful of hermits and snails, and a single blue/green cromis. I actually found the coolest piece of lace (base, dry, dead, whatever) rock and the minute I saw it I knew it was the perfect size and shape for my tank. I'll be sure to take a few pictures tomorrow for you guys.

-Scott

[scbauer]

Okay, here are the pictures. Nothing too exciting, but after 9 months of working on the tank, to see some living things in the tank is really getting me excited about reefing again!

The FTS (in this case, Front of Tank Shot )


Still not sure what the final rock layout will look like, but for now it's a big horseshoe around the tank:


And somebody was very curious to know what was moving around in the tank. He just wishes he was about 5 feet taller!


Hope you enjoy the update.

-Scott

[scbauer]

<< double post >>

[psteeleb]

good to see you back - was starting to wonder what happened
the tank is looking great - can't wait to see more of it as you add things and they mature.

[scbauer]

Thanks, good to be back! I'm thinking it'll be about a month or two before I start adding anything else. I might get a few more pieces of live rock... One of the local stores here in town actually had some good looking rock at only 6.99/lb... I can't believe I just said that... only $7 per pound for ROCKS! That's how I know I'm addicted to this hobby.

Anyways, I have a few other projects going right now... I bought 300 SqFt of hardwood flooring that I need to install in the family room (tank viewing room). It won't be here for a few more weeks, so right about the time I start getting bored and want to add things to the tank, I'll have something to keep me busy for another week or two.

Thanks for keeping up with the thread and making sure I didn't let it completely disappear!

-Scott

[nmbeg]

awesome! good to see you back

[scbauer]

Well, 5 days now and everything is still alive... I guess that's a good start.

I've completely neglected the tank for the last 2 days since I've been stuck at work until 11pm both days. I hope to get off work early today so I can have some time to see the tank before the lights go out!

I did notice that the green coraline on the live rock seems to be turning white. I don't know if that's because there is too much light, not enough calcium, or something else... Thoughts?

-Scott

[chrismunn]

that normally happens when a piece of rock is introduced into a new environment, at least in my experience. given appropriate levels of ca and alk it should come back in no time.

your off to a good start so far, i cant wait to see it in another 9 months!

[scbauer]

Okay, now that the thread is somewhat revived, I'll ask the all-important question...

To Calcium Reactor or Not To Calcium Reactor? Obviously there is only a small amount of coraline growing (hopefully) in the tank right now, and that's the only thing demanding calcium. I started my new tank with Reef Crystals (RC) instead of Instant Ocean (IO), and my understanding is that RC has a much higher level of CA than IO.

I have a full CA Reactor setup including reactor, feed pump, recirc pump, CO2 bottle (empty), electronic solenoid, etc... I have not yet setup the reactor for the simple reason that I don't believe I need it yet.

I would rather not add another piece to my convoluted (sp?) puzzle that is my tank. Do you guys think the CA Reactor is necessary or should I wait until I start stocking the tank with corals?

Thanks!

-Scott

[chrismunn]

ide wait untill you get something stony before adding the reactor. on the other hand, it might be beneficial to add it now before you have coral in the tank simply becasue you can get it dialed in and become framiliar with it before a mistake would have any real affect on coral health. basically if you set it up now and accidentally do something wrong it wont kill anything. but obviously it would serve no real purpose as of yet with no coral. and when you did add coral you would have to re-dial it in to maintain a higher calcium demand.

you also need a ph controller to controll the solenoid.

[ataller]

The tank isn't too big. You go could get some dosing pumps and go the Balling route if you didn't want to go with a calcium reactor.

Should be able to maintain alk and ca just as well.

[scbauer]

Originally posted by chrismunn

you also need a ph controller to controll the solenoid.

The AquaController can take care of that.

[scbauer]

Okay, picked up a few supplies today. I finally got my carbon. If you read back about 10 pages, you'll see I have the Two Little Fishes Phosban Reactor, but never put any media in it. I went to the fish store to buy some, but after spending about an hour looking at fish, corals, and more stuff I don't need, I completely forgot to get the carbon.

No problem, luckily there is a PetSmart about 5 minutes from my house, so I ran down there to get some. I'm REALLY glad I did, because I happen to walk by a "clearance" section back in the corner and saw some UV sterilizer bulbs for sale. They were the exact bulb that my CoraLife TurboTwist requires, and they were marked down from $34 to $8. I bought both of them, and now I shouldn't need to buy another UV bulb for quite some time.

I put the carbon in when I got home... I've never used carbon, so I'm curios to see if I can see a difference in the water clarity. There is quite a bit of crap floating around in the tank right now, but I think the combo of the filter sock (finally put it in today) and the carbon should clear that up by morning.

-Scott

[Anemonebuff]

Originally posted by lovetoreef
i had a carpet in our office tank ... i loved it, but, the downside to them is they are constantly sliding their foot under the rock work ruining your aquascaping and, they put out a lot of detritus ... plus, they will eat small fish

Ditto(except that they will eat big fish too). If you get a carpet, you better be prepared to have an anemone and the host fish. They eat any fish they can catch and will constantly rearrange your tank. They are very strong and will move just about any rock. I am now carpet free for a few months and I am happy to have a FISH TANK again.

BTAs and LTAs are a big difference from carpets IMO and IME.

[chrismunn]

so hows the water clarity now?

[psteeleb]

has your tank even fully cycled yet? Live rock by itself would likely generate a mini cycle but if you got it from the store to your tank with minimal die off you may never even notice one.

just wondering.

[scbauer]

I'm guessing the tank is just starting to cycle, but it's been so long since I started a tank from scratch I can't remember everything I need to do.

Water, salt, and base rock have been in for months. I did a 5 gallon (~10%) water change before anything live went into the tank. I put about 10 snails and 10 hermits into the tank last Friday. The next day I added a VERY SMALL amount (~5lbs) of cured live rock from 2 different stores. It was wrapped in wet newspaper, and into my tank within half an hour. That same day I added Ernie, the lone fish in the tank. I did another 5 gallon water change on Sunday. I've been feeding lightly.

It's now been more than a week and according to my Salifert test kit the amonia is still below 0.25. We'll just wait and see where we are in a few more weeks.

-Scott

[scbauer]

Ammonia is still showing below 0.25. Skimmer is starting to pull some really nasty stuff out of the tank. Temp is very stable right around 79.5 and ph is holding between 8.25 and 8.33, so I'm happy about that.

The snails keep finding their way into the overflow box so I think some strainers will be necessary to keep them from riding the waterslide down into the sump.

Updated pictures and A VIDEO coming this evening!

Scott

[psteeleb]

Originally posted by scbauer
Ammonia is still showing below 0.25. Skimmer is starting to pull some really nasty stuff out of the tank. Temp is very stable right around 79.5 and ph is holding between 8.25 and 8.33, so I'm happy about that.

The snails keep finding their way into the overflow box so I think some strainers will be necessary to keep them from riding the waterslide down into the sump.

Updated pictures and A VIDEO coming this evening!

Scott

can't wait

The snails are probably looking for food. The strainers may not be needed in the long run. Just a thought.

[scbauer]

Okay, here are a few pictures I took of the tank last week. The water had cleared up quite a bit, but then I had to go mess with the layout of the rock and stir up a bunch of crap.

Here the water was pretty clear:


And a glamor-shot of Ernie:


Then yesterday, I decided to vaccume up some of the stuff that had fallen off the rocks, and in the process I stired up a whole bunch of crap. I thought this would make for a good movie. The tank doesn't look too pretty, but you can get a good idea of the water flow. I think corals and anemone(s) will be happy with the flow: Click Here for Ernie's YouTube Cameo - http://www.youtube.com/v/GfDhQxMbTBY

Hope you enjoy! By the way, if anybody knows how to embed YouTube video's into a post, let me know as I'm just starting to get comfortable with YouTube.

-Scott

[scbauer]

-- sorry, trying to figure out how to embed a YouTube video and being very unsuccessful --

http://www.youtube.com/v/GfDhQxMbTBY

[scbauer]

Okay, so the tank is officially up-and-running, so it's time to move on to some fun stuff. I'm thinking about setting up a live webcam for the tank. I've come up with 2 options...

Option 1 - I would find some sort of flexible arm and attach the camera above the tank on the viewing wall (inside the house), then the camera would point into the tank.


Option 2 - Waterproof camera! I'm thinking of waterproofing my existing webcam (it was cheap, so if I mess up it's no big deal). The camera would then be submerged into the tank.


Would really like some input on this one. What do you guys think about the FishCam idea?

By the way, I've already got the streaming camera up-and-running, so the technical part is all taken care of.

-Scott